Page 56 of Blood Spilled
Thirty-five
Angel
Two weeks later
I exit my house, already sweating in my black suit the minute I step onto the porch. Carlos steps out of his car, adjusting his sunglasses. “Are you ready, hermano?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be. Let's get this shit over with, you know how much I hate crowds.”
He nods, “I do. But it’s not every day your lover dies.”
“No and let this be the last time. Not sure I can wear any more of these damn suits.” I hardly ever wear a suit. It was never my thing. I’m happy in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Although sometimes I have to dress the part when dealing with important clientele and attending big events.
Today is definitely a big event. After tonight, I won't be stepping foot back in the same house again. I watch it slip away as my brother drives off. I have left Diego in charge of this location. He is well suited for the job. He has proven himselftime and time again. He also has Gabriel and Mateo nearby to help.
Nothing I need is in that house any longer. I have a secret location not many people know about. I don’t usually work from there, so it makes it easy to keep it hidden. People assume the product all came from one place, not two distribution centers.
“Did you already say your goodbyes?”
I nod. “I did and I think I’ll miss that room the most.”
Carlos smiles, already knowing what room I speak of. I don’t mention to my brother that I fucked Santiago in the cage last night or that I woke up this morning chained to the wall with his cock buried deep inside me. I don’t think we will ever stop wondering when the other will finally put a bullet in the other's head or if the meals we serve each other will be our last. But we wouldn’t be us if we did.
Carlos clears his throat as he pulls onto a road lined with cars. His phone rings and he tenses, staring at the screen. “I have to take this, but you go on ahead?”
“Is everything okay?”
He hesitates before smiling. “Yes, it’s fine. I’ll see y’all out there.”
“Good, because if I’m going to be miserable, so are the rest of you assholes.”
He laughs, “I think you forget, we are doing this for you.”
I slam the door shut behind me and he stays in the car lifting the phone to his ear. Feeling a light breeze sweep against my neck, I walk closer to the chairs filled with a bunch of strangers Santiago never gave a damn about. Mateo waves me over to where he and Gabriel are standing in the front of Santiago's picture, holding a gold urn in his arm. Another urn rests on top of a table with a picture of Santiago’s mother next to it.
A few people walk up to Mateo, shaking his hand. They give him their condolences, knowing he could care less about his husband dying again.
“I see they were both cremated. Were neither worthy of an open casket?” a tall man with platinum hair says, eyeing the urn.
“Trust me, no one wants to see the remains of these two. Let's just say I did everyone a favor. Besides, as we have seen before, certain people from the Morales family don’t like to stay dead and I think this solves that problem,” Mateo replies.
The other man laughs. “I guess that’s true, better safe than sorry. We are just glad your family took care of the problem.”
Mateo nods. “I’m glad we did too, but we didn’t do it alone. We had some help and I think people forget just how much help we have. Let that be a lesson to whoever dares to fuck with us again.”
Little by little, people start to disperse. My suit has practically melted to my skin at this point. When the last person leaves, Mateo hands me the urn. “What should we do with the other one?”
I shrug. “It seems like it will make good target practice.”
Gabriel laughs, wrapping his arm around Mateo. “That it would. Where the hell is Carlos? I thought you two came together.”
I turn around, searching the street where he’d parked. “I don’t know. He got a phone call and stayed in the car to take it. He was supposed to stick around for the rest of the funeral.”
Mateo’s gaze falls on my brother. “Maybe he got called to a job.”
“He doesn’t take jobs on his phone,” Gabriel responds.
“It seemed like a pretty serious call, one he couldn’t ignore. The way he stared at the screen made me think he just saw a ghost.”
